Episode 7 - Collecting Theodore Roosevelt

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Tom Peeling, hello and welcome to the Talk About Teddy podcast.

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Thank you.

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It's good to be here.

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Well, uh, Tom, to get us started, I guess, the first natural question here would be, uh, how'd you come to be interested in the first place in, uh, collecting political memorabilia and maybe, uh, TR memorabilia in particular? Well, I started collecting, political campaign buttons in 1972.

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I had a friend who was a year older than I was, so he was, he was driving at age 16 and I was 15.

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And we went to, a, uh, campaign headquarters for Nixon, you know, where we were living in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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And, uh, they said, uh, yeah, we've got a bunch of buttons here.

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We'll give you some buttons.

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Uh, you gotta work for him.

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You gotta make a few phone calls to people, you know, to get out the vote for Nixon.

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So we sat down at the phones for, I don't know what it was, half hour, hour, and, uh, earned ourself a few buttons, and then we went over to the McGovern headquarters, uh, on the same day, and, uh, son of a gun, but they needed workers too, and, uh, that was their charge for the buttons.

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And, uh, we, we always like to say that, uh, uh, we were, may have been the only two people in America who campaigned for Nixon and McGovern on the same day, uh, by telephone.

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So, that wondering if a Watergate story was coming in there No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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We, we never made it to Washington.

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But, we didn't make the big show, as they say.

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But, we went on to, uh, uh, you know, we both were interested in collecting.

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But, uh, uh, I then about, uh, I guess it was about Three years after that, um, went to Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother and I got into their attic, and if you know anything about those northeastern attics, you know, when you, when you, you didn't know what to do with something, it didn't go to the garbage, it went in the attic.

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And my grandfather collected everything, and unfortunately he passed away about five years before I was born, because we were kindred spirits.

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Uh, he, he would have, You know, he was in the Depression era, so he would have had balls of string, you know, where he would just roll them up and constantly make them bigger, and then when he'd find a different piece of string, he'd just attach it and keep rolling it, so you'd have all these mishmash of different strings attached, and And, I mean, it just went on and on.

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There was just all kinds of stuff like that.

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Balls of tinfoil.

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He'd pull the tin off of, uh, uh, it was real tin back in those days on gum wrappers.

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And he'd have these big balls of tin because, you know, someday you might need to cash that in to buy food or whatever.

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So, but anyways, he had a knife collection, a gun collection, um, all kinds of things.

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Indian arrowheads, Indian pottery.

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And I remember, um, I mean, history.

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Intrigued me at that age anyway, and I remember going up there early one morning The rest of the family was still sleeping, but you know what those attics are like.

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They're dark.

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They're dingy They have like a little window in each end and this light was coming in and you could see the the you know I'm trying to draw a picture here, but you could see the the dust in the air, you know And I remember looking at all this stuff and he had all these books and things and I opened up this old wooden cigar box and inside it was about Probably 20, maybe 25, uh, turn of the century campaign buttons.

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And, um, there was one right on top, an inch and a quarter pin, uh, just a sepia color.

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Uh, pin of, uh, Teddy Roosevelt with a metal frame around it and then hanging from it was just a little, uh, red, white, and blue ribbons.

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They didn't say anything on them and it was just his name underneath the, the button.

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And, uh, so I was like, oh, I really got interested in him.

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And then after, uh, uh, A few years later after I got married and my wife saw all the campaign buttons that were starting to pile up She said, you know, you really ought to try to specialize in something and at that point I had read Nathan Miller's book on on Roosevelt is one volume biography and I thought, you know, I, I could really get into Theodore Roosevelt and, and so I decided to narrow it down to that, but then she didn't realize how many different items there were for Theodore Roosevelt out there.

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She thought she was narrowing you down.

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And 43 years later, we're still married.

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So, Tom, besides the, uh, the basic campaign button that most folks are probably familiar with, uh, what other types of collectibles are, are out there for Theodore Roosevelt? well, you know, the, I, I used to collect, uh, coins as a kid.

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I collected Indian head pennies and I got 'em all and it's like, okay, well this is every mint market.

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Every year they made them.

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Now what do I do? I'm really not interested in moving up to Nichols.

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So I started getting into the campaign buttons and, um.

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There's just no end to it.

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I mean, I could tell you once a month I see something for Theodore Roosevelt from his lifetime, a collectible that I've never seen before.

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It's just remarkable.

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Besides the buttons and ribbons, there's all kinds of textiles, which would be bandanas and handkerchiefs and flags.

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There's china, there's tokens, metal tokens, figurines, busts, uh, tobacco related items, even though he wasn't a smoker.

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Uh, you know, crystal, uh, postcards, posters.

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Every kind of paper you could ever think of from ballots to sample ballots.

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Um, you know, anything that a campaign headquarters might put out, you know, go to a campaign headquarters now and see all the stuff for Biden or Trump.

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And, you know, just imagine all that for Theodore Roosevelt at different campaign headquarters around the country.

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I mean, in, in, in one County, there might be five different.

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You know, TR campaign clubs.

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So, you know, uh, I've got flags for him.

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I've got some, I've got advertising posters.

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There's, you know, there's a great one for, uh, for, uh, cylinder records.

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Uh, hear the president's voice it says on it with a big picture of TR.

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And, um, opening of expositions.

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There's a great poster for the opening of the Jamestown Exposition.

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Uh, it, it, it gets as far as, uh, this is a crazy thing I, I just got a couple years ago.

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But T.

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R.

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opened the Jamestown Exposition in 1903, um, by pushing a, a, a button.

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Basically, it set off a bell or opened a gate, who knows what it did, but it's brass.

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And, uh, it's, it's Says right on the thing, opening of the Jamestown Exposition by President Theodore Roosevelt.

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I've got the brass plate with the button.

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You know, it turned up at a political collectible show.

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So that's the closest I get as to anything he ever owned himself.

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But, you know, it's just, uh, remarkable how much stuff is out there.

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And, um, I'm, I'm limited on the number of Buttons I can still find when I go to a show, uh, because I have a lot of them now, but new ones turn up all the time, and then different types of things, uh, that chalkware piece I just got this week, my sixth one, um, there's photo albums, uh, like a family would put all their photos in with celluloid fronts on them, uh, and color pictures, and, uh, I now have five different ones with Theodore Roosevelt or his family on them.

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I picked up two of them at a show in Canton, Ohio last October.

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Uh, so it's just, I could sit here and talk forever.

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I've got a friend who's got, keeps a list of different types of items that you can have for anybody's campaign, not just Theodore Roosevelt.

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You know, combs and hats and, you know, each, each one of them is a different category.

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He just keeps a list.

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And I think he was well over 160 or 180 different items, uh, for different campaigns.

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Uh, so that's, that's the beauty of political collecting is there's no end to it.

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As my wife would tell you, Well, I know I think you had mentioned having one piece that was the backdrop for a theater like the canvas painted Oh no.

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Um, it was the, um, I have a chair.

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Um, I, I, I don't remember the, I.

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Oh, I, I did have a, I did, uh, yeah, this, this one had to go by the wayside to another collector because it was, uh, uh, approximately nine feet long and about seven feet wide.

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It was a big canvas thing of the charge, uh, the Rough Riders up, up San Juan Hill.

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And I, I'm not sure what it was used for, but it was like, it was, it was an advertisement for a play or something.

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And.

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Like you see the big old circus posters that were on canvas, that were painted on canvas.

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That's what this was.

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Um, but the other thing I was thinking of was, I've kind of, yeah, this is, this is an odd one.

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Um, the Roosevelt Theater in St.

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Louis was torn down years ago, and at the end of it, and picture the old wooden, uh, theater chairs, that, you know, that are incredibly uncomfortable.

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They would just fold down, you know, and you'd sit on it.

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Well, at the end of each row, one chair at the end of each row would have, The end on it, and it would have, had a picture or an image in the cast iron of Theodore Roosevelt.

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He was molded right into the cast iron.

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And it was only the end chair in each row, so if it was 30 row theater, there were 60 of them.

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You know, and uh, I have one of those chairs, because each one came apart, you know, they were all bolted together.

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But then the end one, uh, it was, it was sold at an auction in St.

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Louis years ago, and they shipped it all the way to me in Florida.

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It was, it was wonderful.

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And the shipping was expensive.

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Yeah, I know in our Town where I teach in Springfield, Ohio, they have Roosevelt Middle School, and when they tore down the original building, James Frazier's plaque, the bronze that you see, they had one of those, and one of my friends went to the auction and was able to get that.

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I didn't know that was coming up for sale, and asked me if I would be interested in it.

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So, I now own the one that was at our Theodore Roosevelt Middle School.

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Yeah, there's, it's funny.

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There's a, there's a, uh, a poster of Roosevelt that, uh, turns up occasionally.

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Um, I'm guessing it's probably, uh, maybe 14 by 18 or something like that.

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And it's just a, a, a picture of a closeup of him, like from right, right below shoulder level.

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And I, you know, I always thought, well, why are there so many of these out there? I keep finding them.

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And then I found one day a little card that's about, uh, probably.

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Uh, four by six, and it's got a picture of Theodore Roosevelt on it, and it's got one little button attached to it, and it, it, the button is the same picture that's in that poster, and, and the writing on it, it says, you know, you want to win one of these posters for yourself and for your school? Sell all these buttons on this card, and so it was a school thing that kids would sell the buttons, or anybody, I guess, but it was specifically for schools, and, and kids to go out and, you know, raise money, By selling those little buttons.

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Uh, so, you know, there's, you know, you talk about how many different things are out there, I've probably just named 20 and I've barely, that's a drip in the bucket..

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Well that ties in with question.

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I've got what are some of the most interesting And representative pieces from each of tr's campaigns Oh gosh, if you want to go all the way back to assembly, uh, you know, there's a little trade card, uh, it's got a caricature on one side of it and an advertisement on the other.

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Uh, I unfortunately do not own one of those, but one of your, if one of your listeners has it.

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Uh, I'm, uh, in the market to buy, but, uh, that is out there.

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And, then, you know, you move on to, mayoral and there's not much mayoral stuff, but I have, uh, I know of four different mayoral type items, uh, advertising him for his mayoral campaign.

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And I have three of them.

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Uh, one of them is a ribbon, from the Republican club of the city of New York.

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And.

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It just says Roosevelt, and it says that at the top, and then at the bottom it says Roosevelt and reform.

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And the reason you know it's mayoral is because that was his only reform campaign.

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In fact, if you go back and read through the old New York Times, you'll see he talks about reform constantly.

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And, um, Also, the other tell tale sign is, uh, Republican Club of New York has a hyphen in New and York.

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Uh, and I checked with the Historical Society in New York.

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They dropped that hyphen in their name in November of 1892.

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So it had to be before that date.

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So the 1886 makes sense as a mayoral ribbon.

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Then I also have a A trifold mailer, uh, that was actually mailed to somebody in New York City.

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And I believe the date of it is October 30th, 1886.

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And it invites you, it's all, you know, uh, printed, not, not hand printed, but you know, printed on a printing press, uh, inside, uh, uh, you're invited to the, uh, movement to, you know, for the, for Theodore Roosevelt, the Honorable Theodore Roosevelt as mayor of New York City, blah, blah, blah.

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It was basically inviting you to a campaign event and, uh, it.

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It's like the size of a postcard, except it tri folds into that size.

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And, uh, so that's a pretty neat piece.

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I've got that framed with glass on both sides.

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So you can see it was actually sent to somebody in New York.

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And then, um, the last piece I have is a front page of the New York times, October 30th, uh, 1886.

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And, uh, I don't know if this was.

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It's everywhere in the New York Times or just on certain editions, but printed in red letters down the, the margin on the very far right hand side, uh, it says, uh, something along the lines, I'm trying to remember the exact wording now, but, urging you to cast your vote for Roosevelt and throw the rascals out, and it's in red letters down the edge of the newspaper, so they obviously paid the New York Times to, on its front page to, to, Put down the, the side, uh, that, that wording.

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Um, and then I have another friend, uh, who has a, um, a ribbon.

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It's a different ribbon than mine for mayor.

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And, uh, that one actually says for mayor on it.

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Uh, so I'm a little jealous of him.

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But, uh, so that's the mayoral stuff.

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I, I get a little carried away there.

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Um, Gubernatorial is really fascinating because the gubernatorial stuff is, uh, excuse me, uh, is, um, stuff that he's represented as a rough rider, almost, I would say 95 percent of the gubernatorial buttons and items, paper, whatever, has him as a rough rider in his uniform, so that stuff is really fascinating, and then when he was running for vice president, he's on a There's a ton of buttons and posters and everything with McKinley, but there's also some that are just, this is to tell you something about McKinley, how exciting he was, uh, there's some buttons that are just for Vice President and they say, you know, uh, and one of them is Theodore Roosevelt standing, in, in full uniform and it says, for Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt.

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and then 1904, you know, just a ton of stuff out there, hundreds of different buttons.

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Because cities would make up their own buttons, like a Republican Club of New York, or the Peoria, Illinois Republican Club, or Theodore Roosevelt Club of Schenectady, whatever, um, they would put out their own buttons and stuff.

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So you find, we find new stuff all the time that we've never seen before that comes out of somebody's Pennsylvania attic, probably.

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Um, And then, um, you move on to 1912 and it gets really fascinating because of the whole Progressive Party, um, incident.

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And, uh, there's just, there's stuff you could find that was before that, you know, before, like, primary things.

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And then you could find all the Progressive stuff.

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And there was just all kinds of things put out.

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Buttons and, uh, China, all kinds of things.

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So, um, and, and then, uh, there's actually, uh, I've, I think I have Six or seven different buttons from 1916 because but a lot of folks wanted him to run in, in, uh, 1916.

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So, uh, there's, there's, it, you know, they're not common, but they're out there.

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And then finally, uh, memorial items, uh, for, uh, his death.

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And I, you know, I have skipped over things where he didn't run for office.

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You know, the opening of the Panama Canal.

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You know, there's a button, a great button, a map that shows the Panama Canal.

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And it says, the door that Rosie Veldt, V E L D T.

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Veldt as in a swamp or a field, you know.

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And, uh, so there's, and then, you know, I've got a, um.

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I've got a pair, it's, it's, it's funny, it fits into your mouth, and it looks like you've got a great big smile on your face, it's metal, and it just looks like Teddy's teeth, and at the bottom, in tiny letters, it says, Teddy's teeth, and in the back, the part you hold with your teeth, um, it used to have a little piece of waxed, uh, cardboard in it, and you would hum like a kazoo, and you'd go down the street and, you know, whether it's in a parade or whatever, and I always thought that that was probably from the 1904 campaign, but there's a book, uh, that, police commissioner, uh, from, I think it was 1895 to 97.

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And in that, in one of the pages, it talks about kids outside of his office have these metal teeth in their mouth, and they're humming songs, uh, uh, and so, you know, that really dates it, uh, to that period.

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So it's kind of neat to, I actually have something other than an autograph that's, uh, from his police commissioner days.

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Well, so kind of along those same lines, you know, the the imagery that is evoked, in some of these political items, uh, I don't know if it was that, um, Conan O'Brien who called TR the original meme.

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Um, you know, so with the, uh, Is he riding a bull Moose in it? well, right.

165
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So, but you know, all it takes you know, to evoke Theodore Roosevelt is just, uh, some ponsnay, some mustache and, and some teeth and, uh, people automatically know what you're talking about.

166
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So I was hoping that you'd bring up the teeth thing.

167
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I saw that in the Smithsonian in, in, um, amongst their political items there.

168
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And, uh, I, I thought that was one of the coolest pieces.

169
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great button, um, that I got a few years ago from 1912, and um, it's, it's basically just teeth and glasses and eyes.

170
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And, and it's just black and white, but around it, it says, if you were against me, you were a crook.

171
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So ,it's like you, you, if you're against me, that means you've stolen the, the nomination from me and, and you're a crook.

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So, uh, but it, you know, it, you know, it's him just because of the, the, you know, the teeth and the, the glasses.

173
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Well, I'm curious, what's the holy grail, what's the rarest of T.

174
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R.

175
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's collectibles? Oh, that is a tough one, um, because new stuff turns up all the time.

176
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Probably one of the best ones is a pin that shows, um, TR at the gate.

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Uh, and it's like a, like a wooden gate.

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And, uh, Uncle Sam is standing there and he can lift up each of the panels and each of the panels says something on it.

179
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I can't remember the exact wording, but it's like prosperity and something else and whatever.

180
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And one of them may be equality or something like that.

181
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I'm sorry, I just don't remember the exact wording.

182
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But it's, there's a lot of thought that, uh, it might be.

183
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Be trying to bring the south and the north back together.

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That's what Uncle Sam is opening the gate, you know, because it's still a few years after the civil war, you know, or within lifetimes of most people.

185
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And, um, the, the thought is maybe it was supposed to be the Mason Dixon line, you know, that that's speculation, but, uh, there's some, there's some things to back it up.

186
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And, uh, that pin is, I think the last time I saw it auction was 16 to 20, 000.

187
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I think it's pretty scarce.

188
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but, uh, that would probably be the most valuable thing I could think of right off hand.

189
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That isn't something he owned.

190
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I don't get into, you know, this was T.

191
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R.

192
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's comb, and these are four pieces of hair that his barber saved in, you know, 1903.

193
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So, I, you know, I'm more into just stuff that represented him in his lifetime, or at his death, you know, the memorial items.

194
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I know one piece you have, you sent a picture of it to us, and we'll post that on the website, is the photograph of Theodore Roosevelt with an autograph underneath of it.

195
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Yeah, this will, this will fall under the category of, uh, what's your favorite way to, to find something? And to be honest with you, I don't know how the woman got my name, but this would have been probably about 19, 90 or 91 and, um, a woman, a very old woman, uh, was late 80s, I believe, contacted me and she was living in Baltimore and she said, I've got, uh, you know, I would put my name out there in advertising, whatever I collect Theodore Roosevelt.

196
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And she had seen one of those ads or a card or something somewhere.

197
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She contacted me and she said, you know, I'm getting up in age.

198
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I have had this item forever and it needs to go to a good home.

199
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And it sounds after we talked for about half an hour, she said, did you sound like the home that this should go to? And I made her an offer on it.

200
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And it's a picture of Theodore Rosa, a real picture, but it's an odd picture.

201
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It's a profile picture of him.

202
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And, and on the matting right below it, it says, uh, I can't tell you the exact wording, but something to, uh, to L.

203
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William Hone's, um, And his wife, I believe it is, um, with hearty good wishes, and it says in parenthesis, including the teddy bear, in parenthesis, Theodore Roosevelt, and it signed full signature, while he was president in 1907.

204
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To the best of my knowledge, I have not been able to, if somebody knows it, I hope they pass it along to you all.

205
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I've never seen him mention the teddy bear in his own handwriting anywhere.

206
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And it's the only thing I know of that has it.

207
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But the interesting part of the story to me is the woman had gotten it in 1948, um, at the Johns Hopkins University white elephant sale.

208
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They would have a white elephant sale each year to basically raise money.

209
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And I guess she worked for the committee and she saw it come in and, uh, And she just fell in love with it.

210
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And her husband bought it for her at the auction.

211
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And I have no idea what he paid back then.

212
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He probably got it for a song.

213
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But, uh, anyway, it was, um Something that, that she cherished and I've now been the caretaker of it for, I think it's been 33 years and, uh, uh, don't know where it ends up someday, but, uh, uh, it's, I think it's very historical because, you know, I think the whole teddy bear thing kind of embarrassed him a little bit, to be honest with you, he's, you know, he couldn't figure out what, what use his name would be for a, for a toy bear.

214
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And, uh, we still have them to this day.

215
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I don't know if that falls into this category, but, um, of all of the items in your collection, do you have a couple that you would point to as, uh, favorite children in your collection? That's difficult always, uh, because, uh, I look at one thing and I think, oh, this is my favorite.

216
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And then I look at, you know, I just have to look around the wall in my, my room, uh, what might be my favorite.

217
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But, besides the, the photograph I just mentioned, and the reason I mentioned that so prominently because it is one of my probably top five, but I just acquired a Chalkware piece this week.

218
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Um, and that gives me six different ones now.

219
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Uh, but my favorite ones, uh, these are, these are actually made out of like a chalk like material, so they, they're very easily chipped and.

220
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This one is about, uh, 12 inches long, and I would guess maybe 8 inches high.

221
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And it's T.

222
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R.

223
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wearing his Rough Rider hat, and he is riding on a bull moose, and he is holding a big stick in his hand, and he is clubbing an elephant and a donkey, which he is running over top of on the moose.

224
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And this is all carved, or somehow made out of, I don't know, it's probably molded out of chalk, uh, basically.

225
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And, but the best part of it is, at the very bottom, It's obviously a 1912 piece because of the moose, you know, running over the Republican and the Democratic symbols.

226
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But at the bottom, it's got his quote, which was his last line at the Progressive Convention speech, accepting the nomination.

227
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Uh, we stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.

228
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Um, and then on the back of it, it's carved into it, into the chalk, where from, it's from the 1912.

229
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I think it's the New York State Progressive Party, and the name of the secretary of the party, et cetera.

230
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So, uh, but that, that piece has just been special forever.

231
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A friend found it.

232
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Probably 95, around that time, at a political collectibles show in Austin, Texas.

233
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And, um, another friend told me about it, and I called the guy, he said, Oh, yeah, yeah, I don't want to give it up, you know.

234
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And I said, okay, okay, three months later he wanted to give it up.

235
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So, whether he had bills to pay or whatever it became of it, I don't know why, but I have cherished it ever since.

236
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And, uh, those are two of my favorite pieces.

237
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And I say this, Uh, knowing that I have a thousand different Teddy Roosevelt, uh, pinback buttons and ribbons, and yet two of my favorite pieces are not buttons or ribbons.

238
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Well, that's funny.

239
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that one item rolls in so much of the imagery associated with TR yeah, it's got, you know, it's got everything.

240
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The big stick, the moose, the donkey, the quote.

241
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Uh, it's just, uh, just really special.

242
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I know, I know of at least One other one, maybe two other ones.

243
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Uh, there are probably some out there, but they're very brittle.

244
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I mean, you know, chalkware is, is stuff that just breaks so easily.

245
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I mean, just tap it down on the table too hard and it can crack.

246
00:25:25,107.899 --> 00:25:31,147.898
I know at one point they would give those away as prizes from carnivals and festivals and Yeah.

247
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The, I've got one that's got TR in a safari hat and it just says TR in Africa on the bottom.

248
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And then another one is just a closeup of TR's face with this ghastly, uh, You know, teeth looking at you.

249
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You know, 90 percent of the face seems to be teeth, and it just says Teddy at the bottom, you know, like you needed that.

250
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Well, we know from your biography, Tom, that you, you're associated with this organization called the American Political Items Collectors, uh, as a, uh, nonprofit organization that's focused on political collectibles, uh, with various conferences.

251
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Uh, could you tell our listeners a little bit more about that organization and, and your role in that? I would be happy to.

252
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I would say if you want to collect political items seriously, you have to belong to the American Political Items Collector for 42 a year.

253
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Uh, you get a monthly newspaper.

254
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It's usually, I think, twenty 4 28 pages and then, um, uh, I'll plug the keynote or magazine, full Color magazine comes out quarterly and I happen to be editor of that, but that is also included in that.

255
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And that's usually either 32 or 36 pages.

256
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And it's all about campaigns and collectibles.

257
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More about the collectibles related to the campaign, but also what's the history behind that campaign button that may have, you know, it may save.

258
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Freeport, Illinois, October 26th, 1904, and then you can go on newspapers.

259
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com or somewhere and look up, uh, and read about what actually happened that day.

260
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So somebody wearing that button that day was there.

261
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And that's the kind of information you get through APIC, um.

262
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I will say that the website is, is up to date, but it's outdated in a sense.

263
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Any day now, the new website will be going up and it'll have amazing.

264
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It's got our keynote or magazine on there.

265
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Um, way back, uh, uh, dozens of years, uh, that you'll be able to search.

266
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Uh, but again, you will need to be a member to get behind that paywall to see it.

267
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But there's other information that's not behind the paywall.

268
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Uh, so apic.

269
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us is, uh, Uh, it may be the only dot U.

270
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S.

271
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Uh, website I know of.

272
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But, uh, it's easy for those of the organization to remember.

273
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And I would advise people to go on there and take a look around.

274
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Besides that, APIC holds political collectible shows around the country.

275
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I run one in South Florida, even though I don't live there anymore.

276
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I'm still running it down there once a year, and it was just a couple weeks ago.

277
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And I went, before that I went to one in New Jersey.

278
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Uh, there was one in Austin, Texas last month.

279
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So, uh, they're all over the country, from California to New England, uh, down to Florida.

280
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And those shows are all sponsored by the American Political Items Collectors.

281
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And then every other year, um, on the election year, uh, so that would be this year, Uh, we have, uh, a national convention, and, uh, this one is going, our last one was in Reno, Nevada, and before that was Nashville, Tennessee, uh, our, our one coming up this year is going to be in, uh, Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, Seven Springs Ski Resort, um, not a lot of skiing going on in August, so that's a good time for us to meet there, and, uh, It's going to show, uh, uh, you know, it'll, it'll have, we're guessing, 250 to 300 tables of, uh, political items for sale or trade.

282
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And it'll, it'll have people from, uh, practically every state in the, the nation.

283
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And, and that show, not only will have all this, these items for sale for three days, But there's seminars on, uh, everything from how to tell a fake button from a real one to, uh, estate planning, uh, for your, what are you going to do with your collection when you, uh, get to that age where something needs to be done with your collection? Like, how much could we get for this collection in scrap metal, uh, cost? Yeah.

284
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yes.

285
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Ha ha ha ha ha.

286
00:29:23,932.897 --> 00:29:32,152.898
Yeah, we all, we all have fear that, uh, when something happens to us, it goes in a dumpster, so, uh, I make sure my wife knows the value of items.

287
00:29:32,692.898 --> 00:29:34,317.898
Ha there's just all kinds of other events.

288
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There's display rooms where some of the members will bring their very best items and, uh, just have them for display.

289
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Um, so, uh, it, it.

290
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Those conventions, anytime you can go to a political collectible show in your area, it's, uh, you know, it's, it's amazing.

291
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I've said, I go to some people's houses and look at their collections, and there's a couple in particular.

292
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If I had a choice of going to the Smithsonian or going to their house, I'd go to their house every time.

293
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It's just, they just have so much stuff and so much good early items that, that, you know, you don't get to see even at the Smithsonian because a lot of it's in storage.

294
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I'm not bad mouthing the Smithsonian, don't get me wrong, I enjoy it every time I go there.

295
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There was, uh, one more thing I wanted to mention, we were talking about, uh, the APIC site.

296
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Uh, there's a Facebook page that I run.

297
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Uh, it's called, Theodore Roosevelt Chapter of the American Political Items Collectors.

298
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Uh, if you just go on, if you're on Facebook, just go on there and put in, Theodore Roosevelt Chapter American Political Items Collectors, and uh, it's basically just a place for all Theodore Roosevelt collectors to get together, and we'll post stuff on there all the time.

299
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Photos of, you know, has anybody ever seen this button before, this flag before, whatever? And uh, you can just scroll down, and I think there's actually a tab up at the top, you can click on just images, and just look at the variety of things that are out there that Uh, people, sometimes people just like to post stuff from their collection and say, Hey, look at this neat item I found, or whatever.

300
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And, uh, I would highly recommend, uh, uh, you know, there's no cost to that.

301
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Um, but, uh, just go on and join that Facebook page.

302
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I'll be happy to let you through.

303
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And, uh, And then you can just look at the items that are in there.

304
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We keep, uh, one thing we do, uh, especially as an APIC thing is we don't get into politics.

305
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I know that sounds weird, but we, we, even on all the Facebook pages for APIC and others, we, we discourage any political talk, especially current.

306
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Now you may talk about, you know, uh, Clay versus Jackson or somebody in the 1800s that really doesn't make much difference today.

307
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But we don't get into Trump versus Biden or, or anything like that, uh, because that just leads to hard feelings.

308
00:31:43,417.898 --> 00:31:46,327.898
And first of all, we're collectors and we're historians.

309
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Uh, we're saving this history, you know, that might be thrown in the dump.

310
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People, of course, have their own political views.

311
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Um, but, uh, we keep that to ourselves.

312
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Besides the APIC, if someone wanted to start collecting Theodore Roosevelt items, what advice would you give them? Oh gosh, I would probably tell him don't because you're just gonna be a competition for me.

313
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But, you know, I've heard that Nixon's stuff is really popular and a lot cheaper, so.

314
00:32:17,842.898 --> 00:32:25,732.898
Now, uh, you know, probably, uh, attend antique shows, you know, and, and don't wait till the last day of the show.

315
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Get there early because the political stuff is hard to find and it gets scooped up quickly.

316
00:32:30,72.898 --> 00:32:32,902.898
But go to antique shows, uh, go to flea markets.

317
00:32:32,912.897 --> 00:32:36,832.8975
Flea markets are, are wonderful, especially if you live in the Midwest or Northeast.

318
00:32:36,832.8975 --> 00:32:41,342.898
Uh, it's just a lot of old stuff comes out of those, uh, attics like my grandfather's.

319
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Um, get, get yourself a little business card printed.

320
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They aren't that.

321
00:32:45,42.898 --> 00:33:14,22.8975
Expensive that just says wanted or I collect and then a picture of a couple of campaign buttons And you might want to specialize you might want to just say I collect political campaign items, you know And your your email and your phone number on it Um the you know, the the most important thing is get your name out there, you know There's there's other theodore roosevelt collectors, but I you know I've reached that age where I've been doing it so long now, and some of the ones that were more well known than me have passed along that I'm kind of the TR guy.

322
00:33:14,22.8975 --> 00:33:20,332.898
Now, there are others out there, don't get me wrong, and they're glaring at me right now, I'm sure, when they hear this.

323
00:33:20,582.898 --> 00:33:27,892.898
But, you know, if you pass out enough cards to people and bug enough people and keep telling them what you collect, they'll remember you.

324
00:33:27,962.898 --> 00:33:33,687.898
And, uh, you know, I'm embarrassed to say I still have an AOL Uh, email address.

325
00:33:33,707.898 --> 00:33:38,367.898
And the reason is because every antique picker in the country, I think, has my email address.

326
00:33:38,627.898 --> 00:33:42,317.897
And heaven forbid I should go to Gmail, and they can't find me anymore.

327
00:33:42,337.898 --> 00:33:48,427.898
You know? And, and, uh, So I, I keep that same, uh, uh, tier buttons at AOL.

328
00:33:48,637.898 --> 00:33:49,757.8975
com email address.

329
00:33:49,757.8975 --> 00:33:55,87.898
And it, I, I'm embarrassed, and my son cringes every time he, uh, he sees me giving that out.

330
00:33:55,117.898 --> 00:33:56,337.898
But whatever.

331
00:33:57,67.898 --> 00:33:58,317.898
It, it works for me.

332
00:33:58,412.898 --> 00:34:05,522.898
So, uh, you know, it just, it just, it's not, you can't just say, oh, I collect political and then hope that it falls into your lap.

333
00:34:05,812.898 --> 00:34:11,482.897
It, you, there's a lot of collectors of it out there who are serious and, and will scoop up the stuff as soon as they can find it.

334
00:34:11,732.898 --> 00:34:13,492.898
So I just, you know, just keep looking.

335
00:34:13,772.898 --> 00:34:19,852.898
And, uh, if, if you join APIC, there's all kinds of information there about, um, um, the fakes.

336
00:34:20,67.898 --> 00:34:21,437.898
Uh, we call them Bromagem.

337
00:34:21,477.898 --> 00:34:30,77.898
It's, uh, there's some that are actual reproductions of old buttons that look the same, but you'll learn by, through APIC, what, what's the difference in the construction.

338
00:34:30,297.898 --> 00:34:32,827.898
Basically, we say, turn the button over, you know, look at the back.

339
00:34:32,837.898 --> 00:34:37,617.898
That, that's a telltale sign of the age, uh, of the button, uh, is what's on the back.

340
00:34:37,627.897 --> 00:34:40,657.898
And you'll learn certain kinds of buttons were made in certain time periods.

341
00:34:40,967.898 --> 00:34:46,467.898
Um, you know, my first button I bought, uh, was at a flea market and it was, uh, Wilson and Marshall.

342
00:34:46,522.998 --> 00:34:49,752.898
from 1916, and I was so excited about it.

343
00:34:49,972.898 --> 00:34:54,162.898
And, uh, I later in the week, I turned it over in tiny, tiny letters.

344
00:34:54,162.898 --> 00:34:56,522.897
It said Kleenex tissues on the back curl.

345
00:34:56,952.897 --> 00:35:02,782.897
And I realized that I was out 16 and as a 16 or 17 year old back then, that was a lot of money.

346
00:35:03,102.898 --> 00:35:10,852.898
And, uh, so I learned my lesson, but you can, you can learn that lesson through API C and not having to, to make that costly mistake.

347
00:35:10,852.898 --> 00:35:20,627.998
As a youngster, I think probably a lot of folks may get into political collecting who are interested in history.

348
00:35:20,637.997 --> 00:35:24,607.997
And I mean, it's kind of a, a subset of, of antique collecting.

349
00:35:24,687.997 --> 00:35:27,912.997
it's that tangible piece of history, right? Yeah.

350
00:35:27,912.997 --> 00:35:36,672.997
You, you'd be surprised how many of our, uh, members are either, uh, teachers or lawyers because the, the, the law and politics kind of goes together.

351
00:35:36,942.997 --> 00:35:41,412.997
Um, a lot of teachers though, and a lot of 'em use the items in their classrooms.

352
00:35:41,622.997 --> 00:35:51,867.997
Um, you know, I, I, Larry, you may have even done that, and I know a couple of friends of mine in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, uh, they, they love to take items in and, and you know, there's something about.

353
00:35:52,847.997 --> 00:35:56,987.997
Sitting in a history class and, you know, people say, Oh, all you do is memorize dates.

354
00:35:57,377.997 --> 00:36:03,987.997
Uh, as I tell my wife when we're watching Jeopardy, the date is the clue, uh, to the answer, you know, all the time.

355
00:36:04,137.997 --> 00:36:40,952.996
It's like, okay, what could have happened in 1884, you know, or what could have happened in 1931? But At the same time, uh, you, you learn about the events, uh, through the, to me, you learn about it by looking at the items, uh, it, it was always interesting to me in history books to see old pictures of campaigns and things like that, and, you know, I could, I could sit and, it's funny, there's some buttons for Teddy Roosevelt that, that, that same button that you'll see ten of them In different collections and they all have what we call foxing around the edge, which is a little darkening because water has seeped through from the backside and you go on newspapers.

356
00:36:41,152.997 --> 00:36:45,202.997
com or somewhere and find out, you know, where that button was that day and look at the weather report.

357
00:36:45,202.997 --> 00:36:53,617.897
It rained that day, you know, and so, but it's, you can imagine people standing there in their, their raincoats, wearing these buttons, listening to Washtub.

358
00:36:53,697.997 --> 00:36:57,607.997
Theodore Roosevelt speak, you know, there's something about holding that in your hand.

359
00:36:57,767.997 --> 00:37:04,437.997
That's why I'm only interested in things from his era, you know, after, after the memorial, 19, 19, 1920.

360
00:37:04,657.997 --> 00:37:16,7.997
Um, I really don't have any interest in it because, uh, it's just, I, I like the things that I know that he might've been there for it, or at least they were representing him at the time, not representing something that happened in the past.

361
00:37:16,772.997 --> 00:37:23,932.997
it's, that tangible material culture that you can own that little piece of that political past.

362
00:37:23,932.997 --> 00:37:31,783.097
And, and yeah, it is, fun and interesting to, to think about that original, holder of that, of that item.

363
00:37:31,783.097 --> 00:37:39,663.098
And I, I think you, you'd mentioned the, the keynoter, provides some background and context to, uh, to the collection.

364
00:37:40,163.098 --> 00:37:54,413.098
another thing that makes it interesting, sometimes you'll get a campaign button and it'll be attached to a piece of paper and it's got, you know, grandma whoever's name on it, you know, and it says, you know, I wore this at the campaign for Theodore Roosevelt in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1903.

365
00:37:54,703.098 --> 00:37:56,683.098
Three or 1904 or whatever.

366
00:37:57,13.098 --> 00:38:03,613.098
And, uh, that's even better, you know, but, uh, yeah, it just kind of, I, I get a little excited here.

367
00:38:03,613.098 --> 00:38:07,993.098
It brings history alive when you, when you see items that were, that were there.

368
00:38:07,998.098 --> 00:38:09,913.098
And that's why I think I wish more teachers.

369
00:38:10,523.098 --> 00:38:14,483.098
Uh, then do collect at least a few things Because there's a lot of stuff out there.

370
00:38:14,683.098 --> 00:38:18,773.098
You know, you could buy a Theodore Roosevelt button for ten, fifteen dollars still.

371
00:38:19,63.098 --> 00:38:20,993.098
Uh, or spend thousands.

372
00:38:21,13.098 --> 00:38:31,273.098
But, you know, to have something representative of him for your classroom, it doesn't cost you much more than a couple of packages of, uh, of wipes or something that you'd use in a classroom or crayons or whatever.

373
00:38:32,568.098 --> 00:38:44,238.098
from an historian's point of view, I think Larry and I have both experienced that in the classroom, how, uh, physical items, material culture, um, allow students to make those connections.

374
00:38:44,268.098 --> 00:38:49,128.098
and you bring in one button that says 16 to 1.

375
00:38:49,848.098 --> 00:38:50,378.098
And.

376
00:38:50,773.098 --> 00:39:02,623.097
You know, without any context, just throw that out there and, and use that as a conversation starter with students about when the, you know, this, this is from a political, uh, campaign.

377
00:39:02,633.098 --> 00:39:17,613.098
What in the world do you suppose this means? And it, it's a great inroad, right? It gets you into the, into one of the, the key issues of, of campaigns from the late 1800s, right? And the gold standard versus silver Funny you mentioned that.

378
00:39:17,613.098 --> 00:39:18,903.098
You can hear the chuckle in my voice.

379
00:39:18,903.098 --> 00:39:24,603.098
I have a, um, a railroad clock hanging on the wall in my dining room, which we just finally got put up.

380
00:39:24,603.098 --> 00:39:28,63.098
It was my grandfather's, uh, the one I didn't ever get to meet.

381
00:39:28,323.097 --> 00:39:31,893.097
Um, because of course he collected everything, but he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

382
00:39:31,893.097 --> 00:39:34,983.098
So it's an old railroad clock that we just hung up in the living room.

383
00:39:35,308.098 --> 00:39:39,48.098
They're in the dining room and it's not working right now because I don't have a key for it.

384
00:39:39,48.098 --> 00:39:41,88.098
I gotta find the right key to wind it.

385
00:39:41,88.098 --> 00:39:43,828.098
It's one of those, I think, what do they call them, 8 day clocks or something.

386
00:39:44,168.098 --> 00:39:47,198.098
And, uh, but I set the time at 16 to 1.

387
00:39:47,478.097 --> 00:40:05,343.098
And, uh, you know, you may not want to spill the beans, but you can google 16 to 1 in 1896 and you'll, uh You'll find lots of information about, uh, what 16 to 1 means, and uh, uh, but that's, that's what the clock is set at right now in my, my dining room.

388
00:40:05,343.198 --> 00:40:07,58.098
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I love that.

389
00:40:07,115.3672308 --> 00:40:07,902.998
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

390
00:40:09,238.098 --> 00:40:18,778.101
Well, I was thinking that, when we talk about the imagery of a button, I've, uh, been reading Roosevelt's relationship with Booker T.

391
00:40:18,778.101 --> 00:40:20,738.101
Washington, you know, guest of honor.

392
00:40:20,738.101 --> 00:40:32,868.101
And then there's a, there's another recent book on this and, in doing a couple of searches online, come across the, uh, the button from 1902 there's that image of Theodore Roosevelt sitting at the dinner table with Booker T.

393
00:40:32,868.101 --> 00:40:35,818.1005
Washington with one word underneath the table.

394
00:40:35,818.1005 --> 00:40:37,933.1
And what is that word? Equality.

395
00:40:38,158.1 --> 00:40:38,638.1
Equality.

396
00:40:38,858.101 --> 00:40:39,428.101
Yes.

397
00:40:39,608.101 --> 00:40:45,778.101
Let me tell you, I, this was not set up, but, uh, you, you did me a favor here.

398
00:40:46,18.101 --> 00:40:54,438.1
Uh, the next Keynoter magazine that is going to press April 1st or be mailed April 1st, uh, from the API C is all about that.

399
00:40:54,458.101 --> 00:40:56,888.101
The equality button, the cover stories about that.

400
00:40:56,888.101 --> 00:41:04,898.101
We, we do multiple things, but there were actually, I think it was altogether, um, maybe seven or eight different equality buttons.

401
00:41:04,898.101 --> 00:41:11,788.101
They, sometimes the images were different and the thought was that some of them were pro and some of them were anti.

402
00:41:11,858.101 --> 00:41:14,538.101
Uh, the one comes from the Chicago area, the original one.

403
00:41:14,903.101 --> 00:41:17,133.101
But then, there's one that shows T.

404
00:41:17,133.101 --> 00:41:17,303.101
R.

405
00:41:17,303.101 --> 00:41:17,823.101
and Booker T.

406
00:41:17,823.101 --> 00:41:21,713.101
Washington sitting at a table, and, um, Booker T.

407
00:41:21,713.101 --> 00:41:30,893.1005
Washington is much more prominent in it, and the water decanter has been replaced by a liquor bottle in the photo, and Booker T.

408
00:41:30,893.1005 --> 00:41:35,783.101
Washington has his arms slung over the back of the chairs, if he's very casual with the president.

409
00:41:36,33.101 --> 00:41:40,988.101
And there was thoughts that, uh, that may have been Uh, come out of Tennessee or somewhere in the south.

410
00:41:40,998.101 --> 00:41:57,648.1
It was an anti TR button, but our research through old newspapers from the guy who wrote the story, um, Has found basically that these were made in different parts of the country, and they were, uh, They were actually worn more as anti buttons in, in certain areas.

411
00:41:57,928.101 --> 00:42:02,398.1
Uh, the black population would wear them as a, as a proud moment, you know, Here's Booker T.

412
00:42:02,398.101 --> 00:42:04,78.101
Washington having dinner at the White House.

413
00:42:04,338.101 --> 00:42:11,778.101
And then in other areas, the Democrats would wear them and say, Okay, look at, you know, this is, this is what you're gonna get if, you know, we have equality.

414
00:42:12,8.101 --> 00:42:22,18.101
And then, you know, they were originally made to be a proud moment for the President but, uh, there weren't a lot of Republicans wearing them at the time because it became a, kind of a derogatory thing.

415
00:42:22,238.101 --> 00:42:28,878.101
So it just depends on who was wearing them and what the button meant, and that's basically what our story in the keynote is going to say.

416
00:42:28,878.101 --> 00:42:33,58.101
So if you pay that 42 quickly, you can get on that mailing list.

417
00:42:33,983.101 --> 00:42:46,243.101
Okay, our listeners are going to assume that was a setup question, but I assure you that was It was not, it was not, with that was the political context of that button.

418
00:42:47,203.101 --> 00:43:02,358.101
When you study different campaigns, not just Theodore Roosevelt, Is there a way to study history and just looking at the memorabilia for different campaigns? Um, you know, uh, Kurt mentioned the 16 to 1.

419
00:43:02,638.101 --> 00:43:03,838.101
I will spoil it here.

420
00:43:03,838.101 --> 00:43:10,848.101
That was, uh, the 1896 and a little bit 1900 to the, the issue between the republics and the democrats.

421
00:43:10,848.101 --> 00:43:12,588.101
Boy, you think issues are boring today.

422
00:43:12,748.101 --> 00:43:15,688.1
It was whether the money should be based on gold.

423
00:43:15,928.1 --> 00:43:20,128.001
Uh, one part, you know, basically gold or 16.

424
00:43:20,578.101 --> 00:43:22,678.101
Equal value would be 16 parts.

425
00:43:22,678.101 --> 00:43:26,488.101
Silver and, uh, uh, bism, they called that.

426
00:43:26,578.101 --> 00:43:31,228.101
And, uh, you know, it's just, uh, you see 16 to one, I see.

427
00:43:31,228.101 --> 00:43:33,238.101
16 to one on anything for whatever reason.

428
00:43:33,238.101 --> 00:43:37,813.101
I, I imagine, I think of that campaign, you know, Adela Stevenson, uh, in the, in the.

429
00:43:38,93.101 --> 00:43:56,353.1
50s was running for president against Ike and he was on a platform and he crossed his legs and people could see a hole in the bottom of his shoe where it was worn through and Ike made a big deal about it on campaign buttons and posters that said, you know, if you want to end up like this, vote for Stevenson.

430
00:43:56,353.2 --> 00:44:01,233.101
And then Stevenson turned it around and said, this is how hard I work.

431
00:44:01,273.101 --> 00:44:06,623.1
I'm always on my feet, basically, you know, so, you know, you see a shoe with a hole in it.

432
00:44:06,633.101 --> 00:44:07,333.101
Um, and, and.

433
00:44:07,503.101 --> 00:44:12,183.101
You know, it's either an Ike or a Stevenson button, and there's all kinds of things like that.

434
00:44:12,183.201 --> 00:44:15,533.101
You know, uh, you know, a chicken in every pot.

435
00:44:15,543.101 --> 00:44:19,303.101
There's all kinds of campaign slogans that that don't swap horses.

436
00:44:19,303.101 --> 00:44:20,463.1
You know, that kind of thing.

437
00:44:20,743.101 --> 00:44:26,143.101
Uh, you see no third term, you know, it's That's a Wilkie button from 1940 against FDR.

438
00:44:26,483.101 --> 00:44:29,843.101
Uh, those campaign slogans are always out there.

439
00:44:30,123.101 --> 00:44:32,783.101
Um, you know, Clinton, it's the economy, stupid.

440
00:44:33,323.101 --> 00:44:37,953.101
You know, those slogans end up on campaign buttons and posters and all kinds of things.

441
00:44:38,263.101 --> 00:44:40,963.101
So, there are people who just collect slogans like that.

442
00:44:41,683.102 --> 00:44:43,263.101
They don't collect a particular candidate.

443
00:44:43,653.101 --> 00:44:45,253.101
You know, some people are just general collectors.

444
00:44:45,588.101 --> 00:44:55,558.101
They, they collect everything and, and some will just, some, I've got one guy I know just collects golf related things to presidents, because Taft was a golfer, you know, and Ike was a golfer.

445
00:44:55,558.101 --> 00:45:04,678.101
And, and there's a guy who just collects train things related to campaigns, you know, tickets for, to ride the FDR train west or whatever.

446
00:45:04,898.101 --> 00:45:11,908.101
So there's so many ways to narrow your collection, uh, to particular things once, once you really get into it.

447
00:45:13,493.101 --> 00:45:20,133.1
My goal right now and for the past few years is try to get, uh, one item from every significant event in his life.

448
00:45:20,343.1 --> 00:45:24,653.101
You know, that, that, that there are items for, you know, the, I mentioned the one thing from the Panama Canal.

449
00:45:24,823.101 --> 00:45:26,373.101
I'm still looking for that assembly piece.

450
00:45:26,778.101 --> 00:45:38,928.1
But, um, you know, I've, when you think about it, I've, I've got a button, um, and a, and a ticket to the event, or an invitation to the event in Argentina, where he spoke on his, uh, his River of Doubt trip.

451
00:45:39,138.1 --> 00:45:43,988.101
Um, he actually spoke at a museum down there, and this is a button I have, uh, the only one I know of.

452
00:45:44,228.101 --> 00:45:53,368.101
And it, it's actually got back paper in it that says it was made in, uh, the company has two places in Peru and, and in Argentina where they make buttons and it's in Spanish.

453
00:45:53,378.101 --> 00:45:57,398.1
It just says, welcome, uh, Roosevelt on it with his picture.

454
00:45:57,638.101 --> 00:46:08,668.101
Uh, so, uh, you know, that represents the river of doubt trip, you know, and, and I try to find something, even like 1916 when he didn't run, uh, uh, there's some buttons for that.

455
00:46:08,668.101 --> 00:46:09,28.101
So.

456
00:46:09,348.101 --> 00:46:15,608.101
Um, that's kind of my goal is just to find something for every major event in his life that items were made for.

457
00:46:16,793.101 --> 00:46:21,663.101
If you have the collecting gene, uh, the variety in political collecting is unsurpassed.

458
00:46:21,663.101 --> 00:46:24,743.101
I had, I collected glass telephone insulators.

459
00:46:24,753.101 --> 00:46:25,963.101
I'm embarrassed to say this.

460
00:46:26,233.101 --> 00:46:28,503.101
But, uh, I collected matchbooks.

461
00:46:28,503.101 --> 00:46:30,113.101
I collected Indian head pennies.

462
00:46:30,133.101 --> 00:46:34,753.101
Uh, you name it, I was, I had that gene that my grandfather apparently sent down to me.

463
00:46:35,13.101 --> 00:46:55,743.101
And, uh, My wife would tell you that other than marrying me and I'm not so sure about the marrying me, but the marrying me and having two sons being born, the happiest day of her life was when the gentleman backed his pickup truck up to our garage in Florida many years ago and loaded all 400 of those glass telephone insulators onto them.

464
00:46:55,743.101 --> 00:46:57,223.101
And I actually got money for them.

465
00:46:57,573.101 --> 00:47:06,568.101
So, um, You know, if you, if you have that collecting gene, you just like collecting, you know, we always say if you have one, you have an item.

466
00:47:06,568.101 --> 00:47:08,38.101
If you have two, you have a collection.

467
00:47:08,328.101 --> 00:47:17,368.101
So, uh, if, political stuff is just such a variety and it really gets into the history and, uh, you know, join APIC, uh, apic.

468
00:47:17,378.1 --> 00:47:18,818.101
us, the, the website.

469
00:47:18,838.101 --> 00:47:42,268.101
It's, uh, It's just a remarkable organization where you'll find, uh, uh, collectors, uh, they, they get together on Facebook and buy and sell, too, and, uh, uh, it's, it's, you go to a show, it's funny, you could collect your entire life and collect political, and in one show, on the first four tables, you'll see more items than you will at every flea market you've ever been to your whole life that are political items.

470
00:47:42,673.101 --> 00:47:44,593.101
If you, you know, the apic.

471
00:47:44,603.101 --> 00:47:56,588.101
us site has a list of when shows are around the country, too, because they're all over the place You mentioned the collecting gene, I know I have that, and much to Julia's chagrin, my wife, um.

472
00:47:57,598.101 --> 00:47:59,573.101
And one seen that look on her face, Larry.

473
00:47:59,688.101 --> 00:48:00,318.101
You have.

474
00:48:00,383.201 --> 00:48:06,728.101
ha ha ha ha she tries to limit me from breakable items.

475
00:48:10,598.101 --> 00:48:20,178.101
Well, Tom, we sure appreciate you, coming on and, and, giving us and our listeners an education on what goes into collecting Theodore Roosevelt political items.

476
00:48:20,678.101 --> 00:48:21,758.101
this has been great.

477
00:48:21,898.101 --> 00:48:23,628.101
We really appreciate you doing this Tom.

478
00:48:24,524.5562857 --> 00:48:26,354.5562857
Well, I appreciate you both having me.

479
00:48:26,634.5562857 --> 00:48:29,164.5562857
And, uh, I hope I didn't bore too many people.

480
00:48:29,354.5562857 --> 00:48:42,404.5562857
Uh, I get into minutiae, uh, sometimes on this, and I get a little excited about it because I love the history, and, uh, that's what I like about the political collecting is you can use your imagination and you're there, you know, when you see somebody's collection.